Arkham fans can expect to really enjoy Origins, so long as they don't go into the game expecting to experience sweeping changes to the gameplay that made Asylum and City so great. Origins is a great game that can proudly stand outside of the shadow of its predecessors.

Existing fans will relish the chance to explore Gotham and drink in the detail while going toe-to-toe with some marque villains plucked from DC Comics’ rich history. It’s just a shame that while Warner Bros Montreal proved it was a student capable of copying Rocksteady’s formula, it didn’t have the confidence to add any real ambition of its own.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Batman: Arkham Origins. There is a ton of replay value here, and with a New Game Plus mode to explore, I’m ready to polish up my batarangs, throw on my classic Batman costume, and get to kicking supervillain ass, 60s style.

Arkham Origins is essentially just more of the Batman you already know without a lot of new offerings. But despite some small problems the core gameplay, especially the Free Flow-system, is still a lot of fun.

This entry into the series is the weakest of them all, but that is like comparing Disney Pixar films to each other. The worst Batman game is still better than most games that see the light of day, but the setting and storyline of Origins just feels like a bit of a misstep.

Yes, most of the game seems like a copy of Arkham City, but that doesn't take away the overall high quality that comes from the lush world, the superb fighting system and the great characters WB Montreal created.

This new installment in the Batman franchise will be thoroughly enjoyed by the fans of the dark knight, although it is somewhat lacking in originality and some of the villains are not particularly charismatic. Warner Montreal did a good job, but it does not reach the same level as the previous installments by Rocksteady.

There’s some great stuff to see here, but it doesn’t really push the franchise off in a new direction. For a new studio’s first attempt in the franchise, I think that’s really what it needed to be, so they can build their own legacy in the future.

Although it does not add any new features to the series, Batman: Arkham Origins provides an amazing story and a big cast of villains from the Batman Universe. It also maintains every single aspect from Asylum and City, like the predator mode and free flow combat in a larger city with lots of secondary activities. The multiplayer experience — the first one in the franchise — is disappointing, but overall, Warner Bros. Montreal lived up to the standards established by Rocksteady.

Batman: Arkham Origins is a good game, but unfortunately nothing more. You have a lot to do until the end of this crazy night, but everything seems already done and seen. If you loved Arkham City you definitely should play Origins too, but you will experience a strong déjà vu feeling all throughout your game.

It's always touchy when a license changes hands, but Warner Bros Montreal succeeds with Batman: Arkham Origins, the third and penultimate episode of the Batman: Arkham series started by Rocksteady. The risks were minimal, given how the Quebecois studio perfectly replicates Batman: Arkham City, one of the best games of this generation. But if reproducing perfection requires skills to propose a story, sense of rhythm and narration on the par with Arkham City was a challenge, they overcame it. Furthermore, with a nice multi-player mode and a gigantic length there's no doubt this Batman is a winner. A must have for fans and non-fans alike.

There are some familiar elements – Arkham City’s ice grenades reappear as the mechanically identical glue grenades for example – and most of the gains are in scale and size rather than substance, but this is still a satisfying adventure with only a few minor faults that’ll keep all but the hardest to please happy.

For all its faults, Arkham Origins lives up to the prestige associated with its name. It’s easy to be negative about it, simply because everything it does well the previous games also pulled off splendidly, but the fact is that if the other Arkham games didn’t exist this would be the best Batman game ever by a mile.

Batman: Arkham Origins is a bit of a letdown for me. That’s mostly because the previous two titles from Rocksteady Studios weren’t merely great games, they were legitimate Game of the Year contenders. Although Origins has a lot going for it, most of that was expected and in truth, I anticipated much more. And this really feels more like a hybrid open-world/linear game, which is a little disconcerting.

While I quite enjoyed the story in Batman: Arkham Origins the stale gameplay left me cold. They've stripped away some of my favorite trimmings (Riddler puzzles) and the fights all start to feel the same.

I actually enjoyed the story in Origins more than the wildly implausible (even by comic book standards) Arkham City, but my fun was constantly interrupted by bugs and questionable design decisions. While this is arguably still the third-best Batman game ever made, WB Games Montréal unfortunately dropped the high bar set by Rocksteady down a few notches.

If Batman Arkham Origins is the first game you play in the series, then you'll find it very enjoyable because it has all the great qualities of Arkham City with a new story and even some very few new features. But if you already played Batman Arkham City, then you'll find too many similarities to justify to buy a new game.

Arkham Origins is a game with two sides. One is a well made game with good design in combat and stealth. The other side is a game that never gets out of the shadow of its predecessors. Batman fans should pay attention but that’s it.

Rocksteady’s heritage lives on in Batman: Arkham Origins and for that alone it’s worth playing; it still empowers in all the same ways Asylum and City had done before it. But if you had hoped for more in a fashion similar to the evolution that Arkham City brought to Arkham Asylum’s core then you will be sadly disappointed. Still, a strong imitation, one that will tide us over until the Man Of Steel inevitably gets here.

At its best, it rivals anything in City. At its worst, it's comfortably the weakest of the three Arkham games. It was a lot harder to recommend a couple weeks ago, when it was a more broken, but now it's certainly worth checking out if you're a bat-fan. Just don't go in expecting anything fresh, new or groundbreaking.

It's all there - fun and intuitive combat, challenging stealth gameplay and an engaging story - but Warner Bros. Montréal never truly hits Rocksteady's mark. At times the game feels rushed, empty and frankly, uninspired. It's an enjoyable title, to be sure, but it's nowhere near as good as its predecessors.

But for all that it still stands head and shoulders above a lot of the equivalent open world action games out there, and for those happy to go back to the well one more time in this generation, there will be lots to enjoy here. For everyone else Arkham Origins is exactly the game you thought it would be, for better and for worse.

All in all, it was a hard game to play through because I felt like I had done it all before. That isn’t to say that Arkham Origins is a bad game, not by a long stretch. On its own, Arkham Origins is a good game. But Origins is a good game because Arkham City was a great game, and it does nothing to create its own identity.

Even if the story isn’t as entertaining or believable, even if the villains feel like B-team bottom-of-the-barrel fodder for Batman’s continuing crusade against darkness, Arkham Origins still succeeds in empowering players and making them feel like the greatest detective in the world.

I really hope that Rocksteady can still teach an old bat new tricks, because WB Games Montreal failed to advance the series. What we have here are old gameplay mechanics – which still work fine by the way – sold to us for the third time and supplemented with a bit of fresh ideas that don’t have a sufficient impact on the whole game (and sometimes are simply bad). [13/2013, p.56]

Initiation is a very regular package, which relies on the idea of the origins of the bat and retrieves the imagination of Batman Begins, but then binds the player into a series of challenges from a widely known flavor.

The third game in the Batman trilogy is both a prequel and a sequel, but rarely feels like either. Even though Origins is set five years before Arkham Asylum, the game features an experienced, skilled crime fighter and a Gotham that’s as infested with lawlessness as Arkham City. Origins also leans too much on old, familiar mechanics to really excel as a full blooded sequel, but luckily those mechanics still manage to squeeze out some fun.

In the absence of new elements, the tried-and-true free-flow combat and predator mechanics feel routine rather than inspired. Origins is worth experiencing for the way it sets the stage for the events of the other Arkham games, but it also resides squarely in their shadows.

The cape is finally black, and there are no man panties in sight. Now Rocksteady should learn to make a serviceable Batman by omitting theThe cape is finally black, and there are no man panties in sight. Now Rocksteady should learn to make a serviceable Batman by omitting the absurd blue/purple cape and briefs, their Batman design is a walking paradox.
P.S. The grey belt is nice, keep that too.…Full Review »

Broken game. That's all that needs to be said. Framerates at one point (around the halfway point I guess?) render this game completelyBroken game. That's all that needs to be said. Framerates at one point (around the halfway point I guess?) render this game completely unplayable. Prior to that it was pretty fun, it's just reskinned Arkham City with almost no new features and a worse story (although still good). I won't bother reviewing this because it is simply a broken product, and possibly the worst frame rates I've ever seen (I've played PS3 Skyrim and Dragon Age Origins). No broken product deserves a score higher than 0, no matter how good it is, shame on you WB.…Full Review »

Certainly not what you'd expect from a Batman: Arkham game. The moves are about the same, the graphics haven't changed one bit, it's filledCertainly not what you'd expect from a Batman: Arkham game. The moves are about the same, the graphics haven't changed one bit, it's filled with a lot of bugs (albeit minor ones) and with too many quicktime events. It's clear WB Montreal was just trying to gain profit by using the name of a loved franchise like this, and just adding a few hardly relevant features to at least claim that they're doing something new. The city is big, sure, but not as HUGE as the developers claimed it would be. The atmosphere is nice, I guess, the voicework is superb, with Troy Baker totally mastering the voice of Batman's archnemesis, The Joker. The game was shorter than the previous ones, and the Deathstroke playable character was just Robin made to look like Deathstroke.

Overall, I think the game is fine. Although, I recommend you wait until the price drops.…Full Review »